An American Tradition

Among my eccentric interests, I keep a lookout for historical information about convergences of Native American and African American cultures, which seems a very understudied subject.  This interest began when I heard echoes of the blues in Native American songs and vice versa.

So this article on the origins of an Independence Day ritual, the outdoor barbeque, caught my eye today.  It's another convergence of those cultures, and like a lot of American traditions it's filled with irony.  These two subjugated groups created what has since been assimilated and appropriated as an American thing, which for most means a white thing.  The African origins in particular are never attributed, according to this article.

There were many places where African American and Native American cultures met, the most conspicuous being in Louisiana, especially New Orleans, and to some extent in Florida.  Another is South Carolina, as per this piece, and I wish I remembered more clearly what a Native American trio of singers (or maybe a duo--all women in any event) said in introducing a Native blues song--but I believe they referenced an area of North Carolina for this convergence.

I heard this group years ago at the Arts Festival in Pittsburgh, which is held in early June.  The July 4 events are part of the Pittsburgh Regatta, which this year does not include anything actually on the water.  The rains were so persistent in June that the flow rate of the rivers is four times normal, so boat races, etc. are too dangerous.  But the fireworks will go off tonight.  When I lived in Pittsburgh, particularly the year I lived on the South Side and could see them from just outside my apartment (and from my windows), I loved the fireworks.

It's a little more complicated here in California, where the drought adds extra danger to playing with fire.  We're just looking to get through it safely.